Letters

Are you aware we have many children in our county who do not have a coat to wear in cold weather?

Our church, Shallotte Church of Christ, has launched a new program called Coats for Kids. Our goal is a winter coat for every child in our county. We are asking for your help to achieve this goal. We will rely on our school administrators to tell us if they have a child without a warm coat to wear, and your help to do the same.

With praise on our lips and thanksgiving in our hearts, we declare in faith the glory, blessing and lordship of Jesus Christ over the New Year from the beginning to the end of 2017.

We go into the year with trust that God’s presence is going with us as his presence went with the children of Israel, taking them toward the promised land. We extol the name of the Lord and invite the Holy Spirit to accompany us every day of the coming year.

This past Sunday was Jan. 8 of the New Year and we’ve just gone through the most contentious election in our republic’s history — at least the most contentious one I remember, and I have been through a lot of them — and are waiting around for the new president’s inauguration.

When we think about what heaven is like, some would consider streets of gold and mansions. Can we also consider there will be no sin?

What will life be like with no sin? There will be no murder, stealing, lying, hatred and strife. Let us imagine a life with no fear, sadness, sickness, greed, hunger, thirst, pain and, of course, no death.

There will be no unbelief (for faith will become sight), no using the Lord’s name in vain. No blasphemy, deceit, backsliding, anxiety, jealousy.

On behalf of Paws-Ability’s Pet Education Program (PEP), I would like to acknowledge and thank the sponsors who helped to make this program possible.

Sheriff John Ingram, First Bank, Brunswick Electric Membership Corp. and the Shallotte Rotary Club sponsored the startup of this program and allowed us to enter elementary schools in 2015 and 2016. Ed Hartnett of the South Brunswick Islands Rotary Club funded the program for Waccamaw School in 2016.

The controversial issue of puppy and kitten mills and animal neglect in our state has been an ongoing item of debate for more than 10 years. In that amount of time, hundreds of puppies, kittens, cats and dogs have died from neglect, disease and exposure to the elements. Numerous bills have been presented to both the House and Senate with little result. While these bills have been passed from committee to committee in Raleigh over the years, defenseless animals have continued to die.